Had my break in service done a few days ago and this seemed like a good time to post some thoughts about the car. I know I have fun reading similar posts. I'll try to update it as I go.
I'm sure a lot of this has been discussed or mentioned already but it's fun to ramble into the void.
Buying Experience- Nothing special and very generic. On waitlist since the car was announced, placed order in June, received car ~3 months after getting in the order bank and ~1 month after production was finished.
Spec- Toronto Red
- 8-Speed
- Carbon Package
- Bicolor Wheels
- Shadowline Package
- All options ticked minus wireless charging and eSIM
Exterior- Like many, I was not stoked on the pictures available online when the car was leaked / officially announced. It's obviously completely subjective but this has 100% changed in person, it looks amazing and it seems to turn quite a few heads. The worst angle in my opinion is directly from the front, I still don't love it. Every other angle in person looks fantastic. The side profile is striking and is my favorite angle.
- I did a few aesthetic mods. OEM carbon mirror caps, carbon spoiler, carbon exhaust tips, IND paint matched front reflectors. My favorite change is definitely the mirror caps, I think they are a must do if you have the carbon roof. I'm happy with them all but I really do think the car looks great stock.
- Car is super easy to clean, like ridiculously easy. The wheels however are not. Dirt tends to gather between the doors and side rocker, usually there is a little left there after I finish washing but that's my only gripe.
Interior- Interior feels super premium, huge step up from the F87.
- I enjoy the ambient lighting. It's enough to provide a cool feel at night without looking or feeling cringe (looking at you Mercedes). I like the M color detail on the side door a lot more than I thought I would.
- Cup holders are shit, what else is new.
- Glove box is a funny shape. I've seen this mentioned before but yeah the manual doesn't fit in there very well.
- Silly one, but I love the way the AT shifts into reverse. I'm not ashamed to say it makes me feel cool every time I do it.
- Love the size of the steering wheel. I have seen some say it is too thick, but it works for me.
- A pillar blind spot is terrible. The car definitely feels a lot bigger than it is due to all the flares and bulges which makes drive thrus and parking garages terrifying because of that blind spot.
- Stock floor mats are decent. I've seen a lot of discussion about all weather mats, I got the OEM ones and I'm very happy with them.
- Trunk space is pretty great. Actually a ton of room when you fold the seats down. That being said, I can't put my seat back to where I want when they are down even with the rear headrests lowered. I will remove them and hopefully the extra couple inches helps.
- Seating position is absolutely fantastic, I imagine this is aided by the carbon buckets which are incredible. There was no world in which I purchased this car without them as I think they completely make the car. They are much more snug than I was anticipating at 6' 165lbs, was very surprised the first time I got in. A small gripe I have is that the seatbelt tends to get twisted frequently on the top corner.
Tech- CarPlay works pretty flawlessly with the exception of an odd bug here or there. It's snappy enough for my liking.
- iDrive 8 is ok. The screen is a lot smaller feeling in person and I like it, it tends to look huge in videos and pictures so that's been a nice surprise. There are too many menus for my liking and it can be annoying trying to dig for what you want. I'm already used to it.
- Why can't there be an easier way to toggle climate control from on/off? It's so annoying to have to go to a secondary menu to do that. That being said I think the automatic function works pretty well.
- M mode display select is infuriating. Why can't I map Sport or Track mode to M1 or M2? This is like a 5 minute software fix, get it together BMW.
- Love the HUD. The shifting lights are awesome. I think it could be a little less boxy looking but so far it's great and you can always turn it off (I have no plans to do so). It's almost impossible to see with polarized sunglasses on but that's on me not BMW.
- Auto rain wiper setting is a little too aggressive. I swear rain would touch the window and it would start furiously wiping. This is something I adjusted via Bimmercode.
- Really wish USB-C was available in the front as I don't have anything that uses USB-A anymore.
- Lack of front camera is embarrassing and a disgrace. I'm fine without the 360 cameras but this is something that will infuriate me as long as I own this car. It's really hard to get a sense of where you are because of the hood.
- Parking Assist is fairly useless. It's slow and doesn't work for me sometime. I would probably leave this out but it was cheap so whatever.
- I don't really mind the ASD, it can sometimes feel a little bit drone-y but it hasn't bothered me. It's certainly great for impressing passengers who don't know it exists. I'm gonna try coding it out but haven't gotten around to it yet.
- The mirrors tilt way too much in reverse. Easy fix via Bimmercode and would recommend to anyone.
- Sound system is fine. I'm no audiophile, they play audio and sound decent. I did code in the Bowers & Wilkins sound profile and it's a bit of an improvement but don't expect this to make them sound amazing.
Performance- Insane. This thing pulls so ridiculously hard once you get above ~3k RPM. Blink getting onto the highway while in the power band and you're triple digits.
- No complaints on the ZF8. Shifts plenty fast for my liking and having 8 gears is fantastic if you like pressing buttons. 8th gear is also amazing if you are cruising on the highway. Don't let it get anywhere close to redline in 1st or it hangs like a motherfucker.
- Traction control is great as you would expect. I leave it on on the highway and use MDM in town. That being said, the car has phenomenal grip in optimal conditions.
- Rips through corners. Usually I'm way too scared so I'm sure the car is just laughing at me when I brake. Can't wait to get it on the track to see how hard it can actually be pushed before giving out on a corner.
- Brakes are massive and strong. The G-force from slamming on them is crazy, it's made me feel sick a few times. Mine squeak every once and a while.
- I wish the exhaust was a little louder, it's pretty unimpressive from the outside. I'm installing the Valvetronic midpipe this week so hopefully that takes care of that.
- Every time I think about the fuel economy / tank size, I remind myself that I'm in a 3800lb car with almost 500 horsepower and I shut up.
If you got this far, thanks for reading
